


alyssa falls for the second time

by nickybottom



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Walmart, how do we get ao3 to make the official tag for emma to be Emma Nolan, i guess??? it's kinda involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 04:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17217089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickybottom/pseuds/nickybottom
Summary: it was just supposed to be a normal trip to walmart to get some food for christmas. she was not supposed to run into emma, and she was not supposed to fall.for The Prom Discord Secret Santa for Kat!!! I hope you like it!!!





	alyssa falls for the second time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melodicchaos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodicchaos/gifts).



> so yeah! prom secret santa. this is for Kat, who is the Real MVP. sorry it isn't super fluffy but it has a happy ending so like....i hope that works haha.

They saw each other at Walmart. Alyssa channelled her inner 10 year old and tried to zoom away with her plate of Christmas cookies, but Emma channelled her inner 9 year old and zoomed even faster.

“Alyssa! Wait up! I just- can we talk?” Emma yelled down the aisle, still riding her cart. Still hoping that things could work out, maybe.

“No! I’m not doing this again, Emma! Just let me shop in- oh, shit!” Alyssa yelped as she ran into a wall of toilet paper, and as it teetered dangerously close to falling on top of her.

If Emma was a reasonable human being, she would have just went and helped Alyssa and maybe directed her out of the way of the toilet paper.

But Emma had been at college for three months, and college was the least reasonable place on Earth, so instead, she jumped at Alyssa while yelling, “I’LL SAVE YOU, MR. PRESIDENT!” as Alyssa let out a noise somewhere between a squeal and a scream.

“Emma! We- you-” Alyssa paused, because Emma was _on top of her_ and _they were in Walmart_ and yes, she was still angry at Emma about everything, but Emma. Was. On top. Of her.

“I- oh- uh- sorry. It’s- well- you remember that Mr. President game that we played when we were like 11? That.” Emma said as she stumbled off of Alyssa.

“I- uh- yep.” Alyssa was dying. In the Walmart. The toilet paper hadn’t even fallen. They just looked like idiots in a Walmart. And now she had to talk to Emma, and she was all flushed and this was the worst Walmart trip since she’d had a random girl start crying in front of her because of the whole prom thing. “So- uh- how are you?”

“Good! College has been good, and I’ve- uh- I’ve realized a lot, Alyssa.” Emma smiled at her and Alyssa could already feel herself falling. “About us and, well, I’ve screwed up a lot. I know that.”

Alyssa thought to the sessions with the therapist on campus, who had told her that she needed to let go of her anger. She needed to focus on the future, and on the present, and on what was right in front of her. So, in front of her was Emma, who was admitting her faults.

So she let Emma go on. “And I know that reasonably, what I did—especially with pressuring you to come out—was unforgivable. God, Alyssa, it was so fucked up, and you knew it, and I should have realized. I should have known. I’m sorry. And I absolutely get it if you don’t want to talk to me anymore, but if you want to chill at some point over break, here’s my number.” And she was writing her number (a number that Alyssa already had) on the bottom of her shopping list. She handed it to Alyssa and, well, Alyssa sort of just stared at it for a moment before nodding.

“Okay. I- uh- we can talk about it. And meet up. I’ll text you?” she asked, mostly for herself and not Emma. But Emma smiled at her and grabbed her cart (which, Alyssa noted, was full of junk food) and left.

What just happened? Alyssa grabbed her cart, and pondered while she went to the checkout. Emma was acknowledging that what she did was wrong, and she was pretty sure that there might have been an apology somewhere in there. Maybe this could work. Maybe things could be okay. 

Or, at least, maybe she could talk to Emma. 

Which led her to check out and try to formulate a text.

Alyssa: hey. you doing anything 

tomorrow?

The anxiety of watching Emma reply sort of ate her up, for a second while sitting in the car outside of Walmart.

Emma: not really? gotta go shopping

for presents at some point but

if you want to hang we can

Alyssa: would lunch work maybe?

Emma: yeah sure! wanna go to 

starbucks or smth?

Alyssa: considering that’s the only

decent coffee shop in town 

Sure!

Alyssa may have just signed her own death warrant.

But still. One coffee, one lunch, one talk with Emma. She could do it.

* * *

SHE COULDN’T DO IT.

Well, she could, because she was in the car outside Starbucks, but she couldn't do it. She couldn’t face Emma and be pulled back into the world of high school and homophobia. She was at Columbia! She was a college student! She was in two different LGBTQ+ societies! She didn’t need to deal with Emma and her small town views and—

She made eye contact with Emma. Emma was still driving the old pick-up truck, where some of her best memories of high school had been made and dear God, Emma waved and Alyssa felt her heart jump up to her throat. And she was getting out of the car, and she was pretty sure her body was on auto-pilot as she walked over to Emma.

“Hey! How are you doing?” Emma asked, and Alyssa felt herself come back into her body, and come back into the world where she could talk to her old high-school girlfriend.

“I’m good. How are you?” 

“Good!” they both ordered their drinks and sat in an awkward silence for a bit.

“So- uh- how’s college?” Alyssa asked. The eternal question, which could be relied on to kill any silence, she thought.

“It’s good! I took this really good theatre class, and I think I might want to major in that now? Or at least minor in it. Got good grades, made Grandma proud, made some friends. It’s good. What about you?” A part of Alyssa wanted to ask if she’d found anything more than friends, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“It’s been good. Got involved in some activism stuff on campus, hung out with Dee Dee and Hawkins a few times. I think I’m majoring in Child Psychology. I want to be able to help kids who were like me, y’know? Feeling alone during that whole thing kind of sucked, and I want kids to know that they aren’t alone.” It was only after finishing that Alyssa realized how...repentive Emma looked.

“That’s cool. I do just want to say that I’m so sorry that I made you feel alone during that. I should have been more supportive of you and your decisions—I mean, I should have gotten shitty family situations! My family kicked me out! And I just...ignored your feelings. And that was so wrong, Alyssa, and I’m so sorry.” 

Alyssa thought she’d never hear those words from Emma’s mouth. She’d already heard them once, but a part of her was convinced that the whole Walmart incident had been a dream. But she let Emma keep going.

“And I...well, I wanted to ask if you might want to try again? But better this time. Better communication, and better acceptance, and I get if you don’t want to, because I’ve massively screwed up, but maybe—”

Alyssa grabbed Emma’s hands. (Alyssa’s therapist was in her head, both yelling about how this was a terrible idea and congratulating her on being able to put the past behind her.) “Emma, I’d like to try it again too. Maybe just for the next couple weeks of break, and maybe for longer, but yeah. Dating you was- is- one of the best things I’ve ever done, even if it ended badly. Just...don’t write anymore viral songs about me, please?”

Emma laughed, and nodded. “Of course. Try not to get your mom to destroy my life and cause a bunch of Broadway stars to show up?”

“I think I can try that.” She kept holding Emma’s hand, and a warmth flooded in her chest that she hadn’t felt in a while.

She was pretty sure that this was going to be good.


End file.
